Maybe I should go ahead and introduce myself here. I don't think I exactly deserve a thread to myself, but if it's the courteous thing to do I want to say hello to everyone.

My passport says I'm American, but I've lived most of my life in Japan. I feel less and less American anymore, especially given the recent politics.

Since I was raised without any religion, and don't feel threatened by fundamentalists where I live, I don't feel emotional about other people's beliefs. I'm not reacting against anything. According to the standard definition used on forums like this one, I lack belief in a god, therefore I'm an atheist. But I don't think of that as part of my self-definition, particularly. It's not like something I either worry about or hide from people. 

My degrees are in painting and the philosophy of art. I came to Christian theology via its best exemplars -- The Divine Comedy, Renaissance Neoplatonism, the antinomian eccentricity of the Romantic poets. This means that I've never had to deal with the more rank-and-file Christianity of the local American church on the corner, and I am not interested in whatever the mainstream views are in red states. 

So as we say in my neighborhood, よろしくお願いします、which I think translates to things like "please remember me," "please help me," "I look forward to working with you," and "please treat me well!"

Hi. Are all japanese women as cute and innocent as the seem?

Hello and welcome, Belaqua.  I've never been to Japan, but some friends of ours relocated to Shimane prefecture (can't recall the name of the town offhand) a few years ago.

Boru

(October 8, 2018 at 4:52 am)purplepurpose Wrote: Hi. Are all japanese women as cute and innocent as the seem?

Cute, yes absolutely. Innocent... well, they don't feel guilty about things. 

But if you've got that "obedient geisha" image in mind, I have bad news for you.

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(October 8, 2018 at 5:05 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: Hello and welcome, Belaqua.  I've never been to Japan, but some friends of ours relocated to Shimane prefecture (can't recall the name of the town offhand) a few years ago.

Boru

That's interesting -- Shimane has very few gaijin, as there are not that many big towns. There's good stuff though -- Matsue is pretty, and the area has a historic shrine and a fantastic museum. The bullet train doesn't go there, so it feels far away, still.

I'd love to see Japan but I'm petrified of Keiju! Are you 100% sure they're gone?

Welcome to our little corner of the universe.

😊

Welcome from Italy

Hello from Cod. Do you eat much Sushi?

(October 8, 2018 at 5:51 am)ignoramus Wrote: I'd love to see Japan but I'm petrified of Keiju! Are you 100% sure they're gone?

We have badgers and raccoon-dogs, and once in a while I see a red ferret, though these run so fast it seems like an illusion.

And since the recent typhoon collapsed the terracing walls on the mountain above my house, the wild boars have gained access, and are digging up my garden. These are monstrous enough!

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(October 8, 2018 at 5:58 am)Lucanus Wrote: Welcome from Italy

You know there are days when I wish I'd moved your direction, rather than far east!

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(October 8, 2018 at 6:01 am)IWNKYAAIMI Wrote: Hello from Cod. Do you eat much Sushi?

Sad to say, I am the most boring eater you've ever met. Chopped veggies and tofu just about all the time. It's pearls before swine menu-wise, with me being the piggy.

Mly x wife is Japanese. She has since moved back there. Went for a week in 2000. Loved Yokohama and Tokyo.